NSW backflips on CatherineBay heritage

12:59 AEST Wed Jul 28 2010

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Jul 28, 2010

Hunter Valley villages once slated for redevelopment will be given the state's highest level of heritage protection, the NSW government says.

The CatherineHillBay and Middle Camp mining villages will be listed in a new cultural precinct on the State Heritage Register, in only the second listing of entire towns for protection under the scheme.

Wednesday's announcement is a massive turnaround from two years ago, when the former planning minister Frank Sartor approved plans to redevelop the towns, south of Newcastle.

The proposal, which would have seen almost 800 new homes built on the site, led to complaints that the coastal spot was being overdeveloped.

A sustained campaign from angry residents last year saw the decision blocked in the Land and Environment Court.

Planning Minister Tony Kelly says the Heritage Council is now seeking public comment on the government's proposal, which would protect 126 homes in CatherineHillBay and Middle Camp.

"If supported, the listing will mark just the second time - following the listing of Braidwood in southern NSW four years ago - that an entire town has been placed on the State Heritage Register," Mr Kelly said in a statement.

"Some of the small cottages in the two villages date back to the 1890s, when coal first began to be shipped from the area.

"They form pleasing streetscapes which evoke the settlements' origins as a 19th century mining community."

A buffer area that includes the CatherineHillBay foreshore would also be placed around the villages, Mr Kelly said.

"If the listing is approved, major developments within the precinct will need to respect the area's significant heritage values," he said.

The government was also seeking comment on a proposed State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP) for lands south and west of Catherine Hill, and north of Gwandalan.

However, the SEPP would not see land in the proposed heritage area zoned for residential use, Mr Kelly said.

"The exhibition of the proposed SEPP will allow people to comment on the planning controls for the sites and will also remove the current legal uncertainty about the site's zoning following recent court decisions," Mr Kelly said.

"Once finalised, the SEPP will be used as the basis for assessing future development proposals for the site."

Mr Kelly also announced that new development proposals for the Coal & Allied estate north of Newcastle, and the estate west of CatherineHillBay, had been re-declared major projects and potential state significant sites.

"The Planning Department will now prepare the environmental assessment and SSS (state significant site) study requirements, which will have to be addressed by Coal & Allied before the proposals are placed on public exhibition," he said.